Jichaw
A diverse family of catfish from Jalupi with electroreception. Their species name means Swimmer-Animal in the Jeskaw language. Common Features The Jichaw are quite diverse and all have electroreception. This allows them to locate other creatures, and avoid predators and hunt prey. Many of them bare resemblances to their ancestor the Catfish, but they can vary greatly in appearance. Still all known species have a pair of eyes, one mouth, gills, and electroreception. Species *'Jichaw- '''As the Chachaw spread across the marsh, a few of them accidentally fell into the water. As they fed on the algae on the marsh, some of the Chachaw were sampled. Gradually these Catfish found the Chachaw to be a viable food source, and some of them switched in diet. As more turned to this diet, those that had better Electroreception could track down the fallen insects quicker, leading to more successful hunts. As they hunted more in the thicker regions of the marsh, these Catfish also had to develop more flexible forms to squeeze through the tight Awchpi. These agile creatures became the Jichaw, the first predator of the marsh. *'Winding Jichaw- A species of Jichaw, the Winding Jichaw has developed a snake-like body to squeeze through the thick branches of the Awchpi. They have taken to ambushing prey though these thick forests, lashing out and striking their prey. Because algae is harder to get here, they have expanded their diet to other species of Jichaw in order to get nutrients. *'Blended Jichaw- '''A species of Jichaw, they are relatively common prey to their Winding cousins. Their diet hasn't changed too much, but in order to escape the Winding Jichaw they have developed new strategies. Blended Jichaw who fled into shallow water could escape predators, as it was out of the Winding Jichaw territory. Since there was constant danger of become accidentally breached, the Jichaw who could hold their breaths for longer period of time were the ones to pass on genes. The Jichaw still lack lungs, but they can hold their breath long enough for them to crawl back into the water. This has forced their fins to get a little stronger, enough to help push them into water. *'Grazing Jichaw- 'A species of Jichaw, they are the main prey of the Winding Jichaw. Because they were often hunted by their kin, the Grazing Jichaw could no longer devote as much time to hunting down Chachaw. Gradually they learned to eat seeds instead, which didn't require great aim to hunt. Instead of using their electroreception to hunt, they utilize that sense to avoid the Winding Jichaw. *'Bichaw- '''These were Blended Jichaw that were able to survive out of water for longer and are now extinct. Their fins became flippers to navigate through the swamp. To better avoid predators their electroreception had also improved, and as a result their brain has been forced to expand to take in all the new information. To top all of this off, the Bichaws had become more intelligent. These new features gave them the ability to hide and flee from their predators more effectively, and also had given them aid in ambushing prey. *Pichaw- 'Adapted tremendously to survive extiction, their kin has died out, yet the Pichaw are physically weak. Their nests are protected by walls of mud and sticks made with developed front legs similarily to havds, and to get around the walls, they have flexible bodies. Being brown with splashes of green to camouflage and looking similar to an Earth chameleon, they also have smaller whiskers that aren't often used and a whip-like tail to look distasteful to others. Having become more social and increasingly smarter, they have become disgusted of the corpses of their own kind, and have found that eating their brothers can give them relief of the tragic reality. They feel other Pichaw with their electric senses which serve to "see" as well as communicate. Well seeing who is a better potential mate, the contestants will send each other descriptions of their achievements and their bodily features, to learn who is superior. These electric pulses can also be used to "shout" electricity, enough to stun or in some situations kill. *'Class Pichaw- 'Similar to real Jichaws, Class Jichaws can actually tune their electroreception to sense lightning and other forms of electricity. Using this ability, they can stay away from vulnerable areas before thunder strikes. *'Whale Jichaw- 'They live at the bottom of the marsh. With their large bodies, they can push through the mud and as such extend the marsh. Their habitat and thick skin protects them from predators. *'Digging Jichaw- 'This Jichaw subspecies uses their elongeted and jagged heads to dig small tunnels incapable for predators to enter due to their small size. This means that the subspecies is thin and narrow, and their small stomachs require them to stash food in their burrows. *'Leaping Jichaw- 'These Jichaw can jump out of water above the other Jichaw species to get falling Chachaws first. They can even go over the smallest of patches of land in the marsh to catch the Chachaws that aren't leaping at all at the moment. *'Serpentine Jichaw- 'a fierce carnivores of the marsh, this descendant of early Winding Jichaw is long and snake-like in form, with a flat head and sharp blade like growths all along it's side. The Serpentine Jichaw will hunt down any other Jichaw species, and can even hunt Whale Jichaw. They hunt those giants by coiling around their prey, and letting their bony growths tear through the prey. Then they feast on the inside, enjoying the entire meal. For smaller prey they will just rapidly swim past them, dealing a wicked slash down their side, killing them. *'Hachaw- '''a descendant of the Bichaw, these quadrupeds have advanced communication skills and a good memory, and can walk on land for short periods of time. They can't harness elecicity to the extent of the Pichaw, but they are physically stronger. Hachaw are the only creatures who can navigate chaw mazes because oftheir memories, and as such are the primiary hunter of Pichaw eggs. They live in troops headed by a dominate pair, who arethe strongest and on occasion the smartest. Category:Neo-Terra Category:Jalupi Category:Nature Category:Aquatic Category:Catfish Category:Jichaw Category:Electro-speakers